Can't uninstall Taxcut programs

Hey guys, This problem has plagued me for years, and I want to get rid of these programs. They increase scan times, are potential hiding places for malware, and are no longer useful. I have tried to uninstall them with Revo uninstaller, and from the control panel, add and remove programs, and with the program's uninstall, none works. I get a window about like this; :Removetc.exe -BAD IMAGE The application or DLL C:\DOCUME~1\JUDYDE~1\LOCALS~1\TEMP\GLC2F.TMP is not a valid windows image. Please check against installation diskette. When I click the ok button, I get the following; Could not initialize installation. System DLLS corrupt or missing. I have tried "reinstalling" the program from the original CD into the same folder, but it still won't uninstall and I get the same messages. Could someone out there give an old computer duffer some help? Thanks a bunch, Billed

Well sounds like you have tried the obvious that most would advise, so if your still having the same problem sounds like we need to kick it up a gear, but this may mean editing the registry, how would you feel about that ?
But to get you started get Unlocker, it will allow you to remove immovable files, then after that it's a clean up job to remove the remnants, so unless anyone has come across this situation before, then this is the route I would suggest, let us know what you feel.

Thanks for the read 8210guy, I'm up for a try. Off to follow your link to Unlocker. Thanks, Billed

Hey 8210GUY, I've got Unlocker downloaded, but sure could use some lead on using it. I sure appreciate your time and interest. Thanks, Billed

Right the program is simple to use, and will probably take the mickey out of you saying it wasn't that hard lol, but simply go to the files within the program folder, right click on each file in turn and select to delete, I think thats the option, been a while since I've used it, but thats it, basically it helps delete files that wont play nice, once you delete the files we need to clean out the rest of the residual remains, so follow this closely and only delete files that are to do with the problem program, if in doubt ask away and I'll advise the best I can for you.

Lets start with showing hidden files, open your "My Computer" folder, now on the menu bar click Tools - Folder Options…, click on the View tab at the top, then in the window you should see an option to "Show hidden files and folders" click on that, then apply and exit out of there, once you have completed this part go back through this step, only this time select Hide…. which is what it was probably on before, one is under the other option, so doing this removes the risk of touching files that could cause problems.

Now with this option activated go into the following folders:-
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data; look through the files in there and delete anything to do with the program, if there is nothing there thats fine just move onto the next one.
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\; again look through each of the folders within there and delete anything to do with the program, once complete restore the hidden option and exit.

Now get and run the following junk file cleaners (assuming you don't already use them), I use a few as I find each catches stuff the others miss quite often:-
Disk Cleaner
CCleaner; watch out for the check boxes during install, unless you want the Yahoo toolbar uncheck the bottom box.
CleanUp!; xp only.
ATF-Cleaner; the link is not obvious on this page, it is the red text of the program name in the description about it, so make sure thats what you click to get it.

Now a bit of belt and braces here, reboot and run the cleaners again, now to edit the registry, a dangerous game for those blindly going in, and best left alone unless you know what your doing, as deleting the wrong thing could worst case force a reinstall, but that said you should be fine following this advice:-
To begin click on Start - Run (assuming your using xp), then type (or copy and paste the following; regedit
Then hit enter, this will open the registry window, now the 1st job is to create a backup of the registry, it allows for restoring it if there is a problem and you can get back into it, so to do this highlight the My Computer, then do the following:-
•Right-click on it and choose Export.
•In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg)
•In the File name box, type a file name (eg reg Backup), and then click Save.

With that done it's simply a case of searching through the registry, and deleting all entries to do with this program, you may need to search 2 or 3 times to be sure nothing was missed, I've found using the search feature it can often jump files, and if the program has 2 names, it is worth searching both names 1 at a time, eg iTunes and Apple, but just because a result is shown in the result of a search, it doesn't automatically mean it is a part of the program your looking for, if it has a similar name it will pick up other entries with a partial match, but such matches are NOT to be deleted, if in doubt leave it alone and note the name and ask here about it first.

When searching the registry always start by having the My Computer highlighted first, that means it will search the entire registry, then each item if finds have a look at it, and if it's definitely to do with the program delete it, then continue the search, also make sure you only delete what it highlights, sometimes it will be in the right hand pane, other times it may be an actual folder in the left pane, so slow and steady and you will be fine, so to begin, click on Edit - Search, type in the program name then search, the shortcut for moving onto the next result is F3, just keep repeating until finished.
Another tip to help see what it shows\tells you is maximise the window, then if needed use the scroll bar to see what it shows, and on the right hand pane you can click and drag the joins in the bar at the top of each column so you can make them bigger if needed to see more info on the entry, any questions feel free to holla.

Good morning 8210GUY, Thanks for the great response! It showed me, again, how simple minded I am when it comes to these machines. I thought I was so wise because I periodically run ATF-Cleaner. Now I see why "experts" have multiple disk cleaners in their list security programs. I thought they were just showin' off. Forgot to mention in my original posting that I am on XP home, browser is FireFox, email is Google. In the interest of caution, would like some clarifications. I assume in the MY COMPUTER, TOOLS, FOLDER OPTIONS, VIEW TAB you are saying to go from do not show hidden files and folders to show hidden files and folders, and then back to do not show hidden files and folders; rather than saying go to show hidden files and folders, and then go back and "unchecking " hide extensions for known file types, and hide protected operating system files. Next, here: Now with this option activated go into the following folders:- C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data; look through the files in there and delete anything to do with the program, if there is nothing there thats fine just move onto the next one. C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\; again look through each of the folders within there and delete anything to do with the program, once complete restore the hidden option and exit. I assume, you are saying to use Unlocker to delete rather than right click and delete, and to work at the file level rather than at the folder level. I'm off to download some disk cleaners. Oh yes, it might be obvious, but my mature Taxcut folders reside at C:\Program Files. Hey man thanks for all the help! Regards, Billed

Hi, Yes, in the first instance you want to be able to view the hidden files\folders, there are probably folders not visible without doing this, and file cleaners don't always get these, so change the setting so you CAN see hidden files (NOT to be mistaken with showing system files a bit lower down), then navigate to the hidden folders as I directed then delete any signs\folders to do with this problem program, once complete hide the folders again to minimise risk of accessing\changing files that may be needed, the screenshot attached will show the bit I mean, it should be on hidden by default. I would imagine you could straight forward delete the files\folders without Unlocker, but if you needed to use it at least you have it as a back up, , so simply delete as you would normally, you should be able too hopefully, but don't mess about deleting each individual file, just delete the entire folder (as long as it has nothing but this program in it), so if it has folders within folders, only delete the 1st folder of the program, do NOT delete the folder that contains that program folder, if that makes sense. Should you get an error saying can't delete x file, then enter the folder and delete in whatever amounts you can, there may be 20 files say, but only 3 wont delete, but finding the 3 is what slows you down, should this happen just delete away all you can, absolute worst case you may need to reboot to delete the remaining files, play that by ear and holla if need be. The programs folder is where the original install placed the file(s), but many programs also create more folders\files in hidden locations (given above), so once the program files\folder has been deleted, go to the hidden folders and check for the extra files\folders that it may have added, you will see what I mean, when you enter these folders by how many other programs have done the same thing, they hold settings etc, so only touch stuff to do with this problem program and you'll be fine.

Hey 8210GUY, Sorry it took sooo long to get back to you. It was long hard work going through the registry. I was looking for Taxcut 02 through 07, and each had Taxcut, T0x(year), and Atx files. Also, there was a ton of Taxcut08 and 09 stuff that I'm still using. I saw a bunch of stuff from programs I uninstalled years ago. It's gone now! A lot of stuff showed up that I couldn't see how it related to the Taxcut programs so I just left it there. Been using the computer, on the web and doing taxes, and the only thing I found changed was C-Media Mixer volume was turned off. Those disk cleaners sure are different from each other. Ran them all, even did registry scan and fix in CCCleaner. Freed up a bazillon mega bytes on my little 80gig hard drive. One last question. I made 2 registry backups one you suggested and one suggested by CCCleaner. How would one use them if trouble did appear? Since it is the registry it's not just copy or drag and drop. Oh yes I was impressed with your last post, a picture is worth at least a 1000 words! That was cool. Thanks again for all the great help, Billed

NP, got masses on myself, anyway glad you got through the registry OK, and really glad you followed my words exactly, and only deleting stuff to do with what you no longer want, otherwise you could of upset the current stuff you are using, and yes I'm painfully aware how slow going it is doing such jobs lol, as too restoring the registry back up it's simply the reverse of how you created it, just use import in stead of export, but a comprehensive guide is Here from m$ as they can cover this better than I.

Now as good as CCleaner is, I strongly recommend leaving the registry cleaner (or ANY other similar tool from anyone) alone, many use such tools without issue, BUT, many times people are forced to reinstall after running such things, so unless you know exactly what your doing it's best to leave the registry alone, the only reason we did this in your case was due to the nature of the problem, and it was the only way to resolve this IMO, but for anything thats still working use the normal uninstall methods etc.

What you saw with all the remnants while going through this, shows just how invasive some software can be, and even using add\remove it still leaves lots of stuff behind, what I tend to use these days is Revo, tell it to uninstall the item no longer wanted, it creates a restore point, launches the programs own uninstaller, once finished next it through to check for stuff left behind, and then allows you to delete it all, should the software say it needs to reboot to complete the uninstall, do NOT allow it, just close it, complete the Revo part then reboot, job done.